WHY JANE BIRKIN'S STYLE IS SO TIMELESS

The late fashion icon has a cultlike following for a reason.

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Birkin in London.

It is easy to picture Jane Birkin. She was beautiful, but even more than that, she was memorable. Her lips were full and pouty. There was a gap between her two front teeth. Then there was the hair: light brown, straight, a few layers for movement, cascading a little past her shoulders. And the most important part: long bangs that grazed her eyebrows, emphasizing her big, expressive greenish-blue eyes.

But more than her face, what comes to mind are her clothes and how she wore them. Maybe you think of the long-sleeved black jersey dress that fell to about two inches below her crotch that she wore to a movie premiere in the summer of 1969. The dress was transparent, so her bralessness was on full display. The rest of the outfit consisted of bikini underwear, two long gold chains, and Mary Janes. Or maybe it's the white lace macramé gown she wore to the Artists' Union Gala in Paris that same year. She had intentionally worn the dress backward for the dramatic impact of a plunging neckline. The front dipped so low it trailed past her navel; she used a black beaded brooch to keep it closed.

Birkin with her signature basket bag in 1970 (far left) and 1971 (below). Birkin wears a plunging lace gown (left) while attending the Artists' Union Galat in Paris with Serge Gainsbourg in 1969.